Galene (mythology)

Galene (Ancient Greek: Γαλήνη Galênê means 'calm weather'[1] or 'calm, tranquility'[2]) in ancient Greek religion was a minor goddess personifying calm seas.[2] Hesiod enumerates her as one of the 50 Nereids, sea-nymph daughters of the 'Old Man of the Sea' Nereus and the Oceanid Doris,[3] perhaps identical with her sister Galatea.

Meanwhile, Euripides mentions "Galaneia" (Galênaiê) as a daughter of Pontus[4] and Callimachus refers to her as "Galenaia".[5] A statue of Galene, next to that of Thalassa, was mentioned by Pausanias as an offering at the temple of Poseidon in Corinth.[6]

The alternative name Galatea, which gained currency in the 18th century refers to same goddess.[7]

Another character, Galene was named as a maenad in a vase painting.[8]

Notes

  1. Kerényi, Carl (1951). The Gods of the Greeks. London: Thames and Hudson. p. 64.
  2. Bane, Theresa (2013). Encyclopedia of Fairies in World Folklore and Mythology. McFarland, Incorporated, Publishers. p. 155. ISBN 9780786471119.
  3. Hesiod, Theogony 244
  4. Euripides, Helen 1457 (Greek text)
  5. Callimachus, Epigrams 6 (from Athenaeus, 7.318)
  6. Pausanias, 2.1.9
  7. Meyer Reinhold, "The Naming of Pygmalion's Animated Statue" The Classical Journal 66.4 (1971), pp. 316-319
  8. Walters, Henry Beauchamp (1905). History of Ancient Pottery: Greek, Etruscan, and Roman: Based on the Work of Samuel Birch. Vol. 2. pp. 66.

References

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